UK Services Show Growth as Other Economies Continue to Struggle

By Will Smyth

5th September, 2012

Figures yesterday showed that the UK service sector increased in August to a 5 month high with the Olympic games having a mixed impact on the sector. With retail sales out earlier in the day yesterday showing the Olympics had actually had a negative impact on the sector the fact that the UK Services had picked up helped keep Sterling exchange rates steady against a number of the major currencies. While we have seen an improvement I think it is still too early to get the champagne out and start celebrating a full recovery from the current recession as there is still a long way to go and it has already been predicted that the UK economy will witness peaks and troughs through this challenging period.

While the UK had some relatively good economic news we saw that Australia’s economic growth slowed in the second quarter on the year with Aussie Gross Domestic Product (GDP) figures at 3.7% down from 4.3%. The slowdown in the economy was put down to a reduced demand for Australian resources especially from China who’s booming economy had previously lead to a huge increase in the Australian mining sector. While many economies have struggled and their currencies have weakened, Australia has managed to avoid recession and the Aussie Dollar (AUD) remain very strong however should the demand from China fall away then we could see Australia fall into the same issues as we have seen in the UK, Europe and America.

Finally, figures from the US have shown that manufacturing growth was still weak as exports fell and employment remained low however the figures did still show some growth although less than expected. The overall picture still looks bleak in the World’s largest economy which is worrying news for the Global economy as we have seen when the US economy struggles it often leads to other economies around the world having similar economic woes. If you need to buy USD then speak to us today to find out more.

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